Love, the simplest language of all

Sophie and Davidson with their artworks at a Best of Friends Shepparton Art Museum exhibition.

1 of 4

Sophie at work on a mural in Brazil.

2 of 4

Sophie with one of her hypnotic mandalas painted in Juiza de Fora.

3 of 4

Sophie’s and Davidson’s imaginative contribution to the Benalla Wall to Wall Festival delivers a distinctive South American vibe.

4 of 4

5370537724001

Sophie had been travelling ever since she gave up her job as a receptionist in an Echuca medical clinic.

‘‘I decided to take a gap year, which turned into a seven-year gap year,’’ she says.

She wanted to study nursing, but she wasn’t ready to commit to full-time study without scratching the travel itch she had nurtured for years.

‘‘Since I was a child I dreamt of travelling all corners of the world and always had a head full of wonder and curiosity,’’ she says.

She decided the tropical forests and the colours and sounds and energy of the Latino culture in South America was the place to start.

She studied Spanish at home, did an English teaching course, got a night job as a waitress and saved her money.

After a 49-hour flight she landed in Cartagena, Colombia, and got a dose of reality.

‘‘I was jetlagged, hungry and lost and I went out on the street to find a meal and there was salsa music playing everywhere, but I couldn’t find anywhere to eat. So I just got a banana and a lime from a market and went back to my hotel to eat,’’ she says.

The next day she ate in a cafe, but she got diarrhoea.

Undaunted, she spent a month in Colombia before heading to Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, where she volunteered for a six-week teaching program after her travels.

Then she arrived in Brazil — and things changed.

‘‘I knew from the very first day why I had been dreaming of Brazil since I was a child,’’ she says.